Grand Cards: Last Piece of the Pie

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Last Piece of the Pie

When Topps T-206 came out earlier this year, collectors were treated to a very nice framed autograph set for the second year in the row. The Tigers had four autograph cards...and a redemption.

Now I used to be fearful of redemptions. Used to think that if I got a redemption card that my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow would never really come. That I'd end up with some crappy replacement card that I wouldn't care about. That it would take forever. So I've avoided redemptions up until this year, when I cashed in three. Now, within a couple months all three have been delivered safely to my home, including this, the last piece of the T-206 autograph set:

2010 Topps T-206 #TA-RPO Rick Porcello

Rick Porcello!

Is this the year for Rick? He's only 22, had a bit of a sophomore slump last year but appeared to rebound well. I think that he makes the leap this year to legitimate big league starter (and hope that our infield's defense doesn't betray him).

Admittedly, this card is not as nice as the other autographs in the set--the solid blue background is in stark contrast to the sunset/ball field backgrounds in the rest of the cards. But, it's also happens to be of Rick Porcello, which makes it the best (2nd best?) card in the set.

But now the real question. What do I do with it?